


Maker's Second Chance

by Jiffers



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-14 22:45:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11793048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jiffers/pseuds/Jiffers
Summary: Does the Maker smile on cursed lovers?





	1. Dreams

Cullen would later swear that if a pin had been dropped somewhere in Skyhold that day, the echos would have been heard all the way into the Deep Roads.  Time had not dulled the memory of the deep turquoise flecks in her eyes.  He could still see the laughter dancing in their depths as he ran a thumb over the faint lines radiating out from the corners.  A dimple winked into being as she leaned into his hand and smiled softly at him.  “I’ve dreamt of this day for years, Cullen.  You don’t know how hard it was to watch you every day and not be able to tell you how I felt.”  Her breath escaped with a happy sigh as she stepped forward to nestle against his bare chest.  His arms rose up to encircle her and he rested his chin on her honey gold curls.  The soft hair gave off a slight aroma of sunlight and vanilla and he felt a smile pull at the scar that crossed his upper lip.  He pulled her closer and bent to drop a kiss on her upraised lips when a beam of sunlight flashed across his face.  Startled, he straightened and his grip slipped as her form lost substance and faded.  With a groan, he threw himself onto his back in bed as the sun continued to stream through the hole in his tower bedroom’s roof.  

“Maker’s breath, I need to get that fixed!”  He ran a weary hand over the scruff on his chin before sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed.  Leaning over, he rested his elbows on his bent knees.  Fleeting dreams of Tansia graced his sleep from time to time.  They were both treasures and torture as his last glimpse of the lithe mage was as she left the tower after freeing them all from the influence of a Sloth demon over a decade earlier. He had fired bitter, undeservedly harsh words in her direction - too caught up in his own personal hell to consider them.  Cullen sighed and reached for the cream colored tunic that hung beside the bed.  “Why dream of her now?” he whispered, shrugging into the linen garment.  “Ah well… a good training session will clear my head.”  After slipping on the rest of his armor, the commander dropped down the ladder to his office below. 

The day passed in a tedious drone of briefings, training and reports.  Cullen pushed the remnants of the previous night’s dream into the back of his mind as he dealt with running the military part of the Inquisition’s forces. 

The troops were well trained and there was a lull in the influx of new recruits, but the paperwork was a never ending battle some days.  The sun was low in the sky when a knock sounded at the door.

Mahl Trevelyan stuck his head around the wooden barrier to the office.  Cullen noticed the Inquisitor’s cheeky grin and waved the younger man in.  The tall rogue dropped into a spare chair in front of the commander’s massive desk and propped his foot up on his left knee.  He studied his boot with feigned interest for a moment, then proceeded to wipe at a nonexistent scuff.  Culled shifted restlessly before pinning Mahl with a mock glare.  “Ok,” he sighed.  “Spill.”

The red haired younger man lips twisted in a pleased grin and he dropped both feet to the floor as he leaned across the desk.  “She said yes!” he crowed.

Cullen’s brows lifted in surprised pleasure.  “She did?  You finally wore her down!  Should I be congratulating you or preparing for your burial service?”

Mahl laughed and settled back in his chair.  “I think congrats are more in order, ole chap.  Although I would pass a happy man.  Do you think it was my stunningly brilliant comments or my handsome good looks that did it?”  He ended with a wink that poked fun at his egotistical words.

“I think it’s more likely that she gave in from sheer exhaustion,” Cullen remarked teasingly.  “You’ve been pursuing Cassandra for how many months now?”  He reached into a drawer beside the desk and drew out a bottle of whiskey along with two glasses.  Pouring a small amount of amber brew into each, he pushed one towards his friend.

The rogue picked it up and offered a toast.  “Here’s to winning the Seeker’s favor by whatever means necessary.”  Both men tossed the alcohol back and Mahl pondered the empty glass.  “I know she’s thinks I’m too young for her.  Or that this whole uncertainty with Corypheus won’t allow for anything future.  But I just know it’s right…  That she’s the right one.”  His green eyes met Cullen’s.  “Have you ever thought you found the one?” he asked.

Cullen stared at his hands for a long moment.  “I thought I did once,” he started softly.

Mahl cocked his head.  In the months that he had known the older man, he had grown to admire his dedication to the Inquisition.  He knew Cullen’s past as a Templar and his part in the mage uprising in Kirkwall had shaped him into a strong, capable leader, but now a hint of vulnerability lit his eyes.

“She was a mage… in the tower I was stationed at.  Before the Fifth Blight started.”  Cullen’s voice trailed off.  “I knew her for five years.  She had been living there long before I started.  Ten years I think.”  His tone turned pensive as he studied a quill on the desktop before reaching out to straighten it. 

“I thought relationships between Templars and mages was forbidden.”  Mahl reached over and refilled both glasses before taking a sip.

Cullen smirked briefly and toyed with his drink before tossing it back.  “They are.”  His brown eyes met Mahl’s.  “Expressly forbidden.  They are our charges - were our charges,” he amended.  “But she was special.  All goodness and light.  She went out of her way to make a scared young Templar feel more comfortable in a world that she had been forced into.  I had such a stutter, but not once did she ever judge me for it.”  He ran a hand through his hair, further tousling the blonde strands.  “I had to attend her harrowing, be the one to strike her down if she became an abomination.  Worst day of my life thinking I might have to destroy someone so beautiful.”

Mahl shifted on his chair.  “What happened to her?”

“She became the Hero of Fereldin,” Cullen said softly.  A smile drifted across his face as his eyes looked at a past only he could see.  

“You’re talking about Tansia Surana?”  Mahl’s eyebrows lifted.  He leaned  across the desk and grasped Cullen’s arm.  “You not only knew the freaking Hero, but were friends with her?”  He sat back in a daze as the commander’s attention snapped back to the present.  “Whooo…”  The rogue’s breath rushed out as he took it in.  “Did she know you cared for her?”

Cullen’s cheeks flushed slightly.  “I don’t believe so,” he replied.  “She kissed me once, but…”  He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck.  “It was right after her harrowing.  To be honest, she took me by complete surprise.  Suddenly everything I had ever wanted was there in my arms.  And I just stood there.”  His finger gently traced his lip in memory before falling away.  “After that I never got another chance to talk to her.  That bloodmage, Jowan, caused an uproar that shook us all up and then the Wardens took her.  I saw her once afterwards - when the tower fell.  She freed everyone - Templar and mage alike.  I was… unkind, angry.  Too caught up in my own pain to think of what I was causing her.  I’d like to take it back, to say I’m sorry.  I’d like to think she’d forgive me.”  He looked at Mahl across the table.  “But life has a way of making its own way.”

“Where is she now?”

The commander blinked.  “I’m not sure.  I know she became Warden Commander after the Blight ended.  I tried to find her a few times - to apologize.  But I didn’t place much effort into it to be honest. I didn’t feel like I had the right after my words and I was still a templar and she a mage.  After Kirkwall fell… well.  Cassandra recruited me here and I’ve been fairly busy since arriving.  I’ve thought of her, though.”  His thoughts flashed back to the dream and his lips twitched.

Mahl leaned forward and rested his arms on the desk.  “You could ask Lelianna,” he pointed out. "I’m pretty sure she knows where everyone is at any time of the day whether they want her to or not.”

Cullen gave a short, barking laugh.  “I’m sure she does.  They fought together during the Blight, you know.”  He slid the empty glass aside with a sigh.  “However, I’m sure by this time she’s forgotten me.  It has been ten years after all and our last meeting wasn’t a happy one.  She has duties to the Fereldin Wardens.  And Alistair.  I wouldn’t want to intrude on those.”

The two men sat in silence for a moment before Mahl stood to leave.  He paused by the door and turned thoughtfully to the older man.  “You do realize exactly why you should ask our spymaster about her, right?”  At Cullen’s quizzical expression, he tossed him another cheeky grin.  “It’s not exactly like you’re a templar anymore.” 


	2. Schemes

Mahl hated the rookery where Leliana ran her network from.  It was dark and dank and smelled like intrigue.  Although, if pressed the young rogue wouldn’t have been able to describe exactly what intrigue smelled of.  Feathers, he decided as he climbed the final few stairs into the spymaster’s lair.  Feathers and candles.

Whistling under his breath, he skirted around hooded figures dashing across the open space to the desk where Leliana was seated.  One delicate red eyebrow raised in query as she noted his approach.  

“Must be something major that brought you up here, Inquisitor.”  She straightened from the reports covering the table top.  “I know how much you detest closed in spaces.  And feathers.” 

“Would you stop doing that,” Mahl sputtered.  “It’s bloody well enough that you know everything much less what I’m thinking the minute I think it.”

She laughed as he came around the desk to sling a lanky arm across her shoulders.

“Then you shouldn’t say it out loud as you’re thinking it, goose.”

He poked the pile of papers with a finger before shooting her an artfully innocent look.  “I don’t suppose you’d have a minute or twelve to answer some questions for me, Leli.  It’s for the good of a nation.”  He placed his free hand over his heart and struck a pose.

Leliana rolled her eyes and swatted his arm away.  “I can spare a couple of minutes, Inquisitor.”  She stressed the title teasingly and gestured to the balcony door beside the desk.  “Charter, you’re in charge.  Try not to kill anyone without me.”

Mahl followed her out into the sunshine and gave a slight shudder.  “Maker, I hope she’s kidding…”

The slender ex-bard sent a smirk in his direction as she leaned over the stone railing.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the chilly, pine scented air.  Mahl stepped to her side and gazed over the snowy hills surrounding Skyhold.  “I love it here,” he remarked pensively.  

“You really don’t like closed in spaces,” Leliana noted, slitting a blue eye at him.  She turned to face him.  “Why is that?”

Mahl gave her a lopsided grin.  “When I was little, my brothers would lock me in the closet.  Now to be fair, it was usually in retaliation for a prank I pulled on them first.”  He shifted against the barrier and watched a hawk soar across the sky.  “Unfortunately, we had an unexpected visitor one day and they kinda forgot I was in there.”

She studied him, a knowing frown between her russet eyebrows.  “How long before they noticed?”

He laughed.  “Breakfast the next morning.  But enough about me.”  With a wink, he linked his arm through hers and led her away from the door.  “I need some questions answered.”   Leliana let him tug her along towards a sunny spot around the corner.  He gestured towards a piece of broken battlement.  “Shall we sit, Mi’Lady?”  

Dropping into a curtsy that would make an Orleasian Duchess proud, she took a seat and patted the stone beside her.  Mahl bowed his thanks before sprawling across the space.  Leliana watched him carefully as he gathered his thoughts.  Knowing the chaotic bend to his mind, she wasn’t quite sure what information he was seeking.  Unless he was seeking advice on the seeker…

“Tell me about the Blight.”  Mahl’s words made her blink in confusion.

“The Blight?  You want to know about the Blight?”  She stammered a little.  “That is not at all what I expected you to say.”

He blushed a little and looked away.  “You were expecting something in particular?”

Leliana brushed a strand of hair off her forehead.  “Not exactly…?”  Her voice trailed off into a question.  “Just… the Blight.  It has been some years since then, no.  You were what - sixteen?  Why would you want to hear about that?”

Mahl straightened and rested his arms on his knees.  “Just hear me out on this, Leli.”  He stared at his hands, for once his animated face was serious.  

“Well,” she started, studying the clouds passing overhead.  “It was a horrible time.  I was with the Chantry as a lay sister when the darkspawn came to Lothering.  The Wardens were in hiding, King Cailan was dead, the army retreated and left so many on their own.”  Her soft Orleasian lilt emphasized the bardic quality of her story as she continued.  “Everyone was scared.  It was a time of horrible darkness, until one light appeared.”

“The Hero?”  Mahl shifted on the seat to watch her, green eyes intent.

She smiled gently and nodded in agreement.  “Yes, the brightest spirit wrapped in one tiny body.  I was in awe - and half in love - with her.  She had such strong magic tempered by sweetness.  We all would have died for her.  Alistair was such a puppy - tripping over his feet just to win a smile from her.”  

The rogue frowned.  “Alistair?  I’ve heard mention of him.”

Leliana dimpled at the memory.  “Yes, history will remember him as King Maric’s bastard son.  The prince that never was.  But he helped end the Blight just as much as the rest of us.  When Tansia became Warden Commander of Fereldin, he went with her to Weisshaupt.”

Mahl returned his attention to his clasped hands.  “What was she really like?  Was she in love with Alistair - I mean after all they went through together it wouldn’t have surprised anyone.”

The spymaster’s gaze turned shrewd.  “Why do you want to know this?”

He sighed and met her blue eyes.  “I promise I’ll tell you everything.  Just answer this for me.”

She readjusted her seat, leaning against the sun warmed wall.  “She is my dearest friend.  The one person that knows me almost as well as I know myself.  I said that we would have died for her.  I still would in a heartbeat if I had to make a choice.”

“You know where she is?”  Mahl jumped to his feet and ran a hand through his hair.  “You can contact her?”

Leliana crossed her arms and eyed him crossly.  “I will not let you use her against Corypheus, Inquisitor.  She has lost enough.  I will not let her lose what little peace she has left to her.”

Mahl paced across the small landing.  He turned to her, a pleading expression on his face.  “I don’t want to use her, Leli.  Andraste’s knickers!  I owe my life to her.  Trust me when I say I have very good reason to ask.  Can you contact her?”

“I may know where I can send a bird to if I wanted to get a message to her, Mahl.  But there would have to be a  _ very _ good reason for me to do so, no?”

He stared out over the landscape.  “There might be an extremely good reason,” the rogue muttered softly.  Turning back to her he asked, ”And what of her feelings for Alistair?”

She studied him again with a calculating gaze before nodding to herself.  “If I was half in love with her, Alistair was all the way smitten.  His life before the Wardens was very hard, no soft touches or a mother’s love for him.  Tansia has the biggest heart and a deft touch with knowing when someone needs a hand up.  She saved me - no,” she corrected with a chuckle.  “She’d be the first person to tell me I saved myself.  Tansia knew Alistair needed a friend, not a lover.  She became the little sister and confidant he needed to grow into his potential.  They are both dear to me and dearer to each other.  Besides,” Leliana finished with a sigh.  “Tansia had already given her heart to another.  I’m not sure she could ever love anyone else.”


End file.
